A Future of Darkness
by CarmineRed
Summary: In the dark future, there are groups of survivors living their lives in fear after the initial chaos unleashed when Grima rose to power. This is the tale of one such group.
1. Introduction

This is a fanfic of Fire Emblem: Awakening, set from the point of view of a group of people trying to survive in the apocalyptic world where Grima had risen.

A Future of Darkness: Introduction

The world has fallen to the Risen. Saying that sounds kind of odd, I know, but that is the simplest way to express it. I am currently a Mercenary, living with about twenty others in a safe-house. Well, nowhere is really safe, but for the sake of keeping up morale of the group, that's what we call it. The reason why I'm here is because these people wanted a bodyguard or two for keeping the Risen away. Normally, I would have declined the offer when they gave it to me, but they offered food and shelter, which is very hard to come by nowadays. The situation of our group now isn't too bad. We have an amount of food that can sustain everyone for about a week if we can't find any more, and we generally hunt the animals in the area for their meat. It's a meager existence, but hey, who doesn't want to live? At this point, you must be wondering about my name. Well, to be honest names mean very little to me anymore, but if you must know, my name is Kayl (pronounced "Kyle"). Anyways, another odd thing that I can do is see some sort of screen with various statistics on it. Mine for example says this:

Kayl

Mercenary

Level: 10

HP: 20

Str: 10

Mag: 4

Skl: 16

Spd: 20

Lck: 13

Def: 17

Res: 13

Skills: Armsthrift, Patience, Vantage, Avoid +10

Sword: B

The cool thing is, this isn't my first "class" that I've been. I was originally something called a "Myrmidon," which was probably due to my innate speed and ability to strike critical points. I've also checked some other people's "Stat Screens" as well. Most of them are level 1 "Villagers" with low stats. There are three others like me who have actual useful classes. One of them is a female Wyvern Rider named Tiamat, a male Swordmaster named Yuri, and a female Dark Mage known as Freya. Their stats are as follows:

Tiamat Yuri Freya

Wyvern Rider Swordmaster Dark Mage

Level: 15 Level:5 Level: 13

HP: 40 HP: 53 HP: 48

Str: 25 Str: 30 Str: 11

Mag: 16 Mag: 20 Mag: 24

Skl: 18 Skl: 44 Skl: 17

Spd: 19 Spd: 44 Spd: 14

Lck: 24 Lck: 39 Lck: 20

Def: 20 Def: 27 Def: 22

Res: 15 Res: 30 Res: 22

Axe: A Sword: A Tome: B

They had some "Skills" as well, most of which I had no idea what they did.

Tiamat's Skills: Strength +2, Tantivity

Yuri's Skills: Avoid +10, Vantage, Astra

Freya's Skills: Hex, Anathema

Judging by their stats, they've all had more battle experience than I have. It's not surprising, considering that I only recently joined this group and not many Risen have bothered us too much. I have heard that one can change classes by using a specific item, but I've yet to encounter one. Either way, I need to train up more in order to get stronger to protect everyone. If I can't protect them, I'll feel like I let her down... Well, now's not the time to worry about that. So far, it's been a year since the Fell Dragon has been revived, and my adventure in the hellhole is just beginning.


	2. Chapter 1: Arise, Risen!

A Future of Darkness: Chapter 1

Arise, Risen!

I yawned. It was early in the morning and I had been put on Risen watch. Whoop-dee-doo. The job would be exciting if I didn't sit in one damn place for six hours, switching with one of the other guards of this place. Thank the gods that almost nothing happens in this area, and when it does the Risen seem to just pass by aimlessly. I really want to go out and kill some of them, but there are always too many and the civilians here can't fight for crap. At least I could take a nap safely.

"Come on Kayl, quit your yawning." I cheery voice said from behind me. "I brought you some food!"

I turned around to see who it was, and I saw Freya, the pretty, blonde Dark Mage who was one of the other guards of this place, and currently the third strongest of them. Ah, it always warmed my eyes more than anything to see a woman as pretty as Freya in these times of death and suffering. Her clothes hung loosely on her body, somehow revealing, yet covering at the same time. Her characteristic Nosferatu tome was in her hands, as was the plate holding my food.

"Ah, thanks Freya." I said, yawning again. "It's much appreciated."

I began to eat my breakfast, a simple meal of toast and eggs, as she sat next to me.

"Do you need something?" I asked after a few moments.

"Oh, not really. I just wanted some place quiet to read." she replied, pulling out a book and flipping through it.

"Well, quiet is all you'll get on watch duty." I said while leaning back against the wall, having devoured my breakfast.

"I hope that remains true forever." she said, giggling a bit. There was a pause. "Hey, Kayl? What do you think of Tiamat?"

I stared at her for a few seconds. "Why do you want to know?" I asked.

"Umm... I overheard some guys saying that there had been a popularity contest to see who they liked better, and the winner was Tiamat." she said, blushing a little and looking a bit shy. She must have been one of those girls who had been very popular, or was just self conscious about what other people said.

"Personally, I think that Tiamat looks nice, but she's a bit too strict for my tastes." I answered.

"What do you mean by 'nice?'" she asked, turning towards me and staring into my eyes.

"Well, she has a nice body, and is pretty elegant, but I personally think that you're much cuter." I answered again, shrinking back as she inched closer and closer with each word I said.

"Do you really think that?" she asked, blushing again and looking away.

"Yeah. To be honest, if situations were different, I'd probably ask you to go out with me." is what I would have said, except apparently Risen are good at ruining the moment because I heard one roar outside the door.

My arm instantly jumped to my sword hilt. Risen! God dammit!

"Sound the alarm! I'll go and kill them off, but there may be more of them!" I yelled at Freya. She nodded and turned away just as I had opened the door.

I stabbed the Risen in the face with my Steel Sword and it fell into ash, blowing away in the wind.

"On second thought Freya, I may not be able to kill them all." I said, raising my sword in a defensive position and doing a quick count of them. "There are fifteen of them."

I was about to turtle in the doorway to take them on one at a time, but a Risen Mage shot a Fire spell at me. Let me tell you, taking a fireball is NOT comfortable. At all. I was able to recover from the knockback as a Warrior came up to me. Ha! Swords beat Axes! Thankfully (or sadly, not sure which) that Fire had dealt enough damage for my Vantage skill to activate. My senses heightened, and I was able to "see" the trajectory of the Risen Warrior's swing. I dashed in and stabbed it in a vital point, dealing a critical blow. The Risen Warrior disappeared into ash, and I noticed another fireball coming at me. Crap! I can't dodge! Somehow, the Fire missed me, and a shadowy energy ripped the Mage into shreds. I turned and saw Freya holding her Nosferatu and looking pleased with herself.

"Thanks Freya! You saved my life!" I shouted to her, drinking a Vulnerary down.

"No problem Kayl! It's been awhile since I've fought anyways!" she shouted back, shooting off another Nosferatu and killing off another Risen. Oh Freya, you look really nice when you're killing things! … Did I seriously just say that? I didn't have much time to think about it, because I felt a biting pain in my arm. A Risen had snuck up behind me and slashed at my arm. The cut itself was badly placed, so it didn't do too much damage to me, and I counter attacked and managed to kill it in two hits. I looked around and saw that there were still quite a few Risen around. Dang, this was annoying, but better than the monotony of doing nothing. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a Risen run towards Freya, and she didn't seem to notice. I rushed in to intercept it, and dealt another critical strike, having it fade to ash as well.

"Hey, Freya! How about we watch each others' backs so that we don't end up dying?" I shouted, rushing towards her anyways.

"Sounds like a good idea! We don't seem to be too good at keeping track of ourselves, so having someone to watch over you may be great!"

We got closer to each other, and began to dance the dance of the battlefield. Freya took the lead with her superior defense and range, while I mainly landed the finishing attack and occasionally blocked some attacks for her. When there was only one Risen left, Tiamat and her Wyvern came flying over the walls of the hideout, throwing an axe at the Risen, damaging it but not killing it. As Freya was about to cast Nosferatu again, I saw a flash in the sky. A gleaming Silver Sword came down and sliced the Risen in two, fading into ash as the blade cut through. The owner of the sword flourished it and sheathed it again.

"You two are complete idiots!" the Swordmaster, Yuri said, walking over to us, his normally faint accent thickening.

"How are we idiots?" I asked. "We took down a whole fifteen – make that fourteen, Risen pretty easily."

"I meant that you were idiots for trying to fight that many without extra help!" Yuri shouted. "This isn't a game! You could really die out here if you're not careful!"

"I think they know that, Yuri." Tiamat said, landing and getting off her Wyvern. She took her helmet off and tossed her lusterous black hair back. "They didn't have time to wait for help, you know that."

"Still! They should have –"

"Yuri, stop. I know that survival means a lot to you, as it does to all of us, but think of it this way. They lived, which means that they got stronger. Getting stronger means that they can survive harder battles that may lie ahead." Tiamat said, looking at us. "I think they did a great job personally."

Yuri looked between us and Tiamat, then back to us. "Fine! I give up!" he said, tossing his hands into the air. "I don't care anymore. If these idiots want to go and die, then go right ahead!"

"Remember Yuri. How we survive is what makes us who we are. If we cower in fear, waiting for stronger people to protect us, we're nothing more than trapped rats. If we take charge and do something for ourselves, we flesh out a living." Tiamat said before mounting her Wyvern again. "Take care kids." she said, flying off back to the stables.

There was a short pause in which Yuri, Freya and I glanced at each other.

"I don't approve of what you've done, but I can't stop you." Yuri said, tossing his hands up and walking back to the base.

"Well, that was fun." I said after Yuri entered the door.

"Yeah, it was really nice to let loose a bit." Freya said, panting a bit. I noticed that she was sweating, and that her clothes were sticking to her body in some places. Dang, she had better curves than I thought.

"We should probably head back now." I said.

"I agree. That wore me out." she said, stretching her arms up, holding her tome in one hand.

We walked back to the door, and I held it open for her.

"Ladies first." I said, bowing.

"Oh, such a gentleman." she replied, giggling a bit.

That's when we heard the roar.

* * *

Alright, this is my first time writing something that is posted on the internet, so please give feedback on... well, anything you feel like. It's late, so I may have to go back later and edit some things. This is Chapter 1, obviously. I can't say that I'll update this too often within the next few weeks, due to finals and whatnot, but I'll try to update at least once every week or so. Anyways, I hope you enjoy.

-Carmine


	3. Chapter 2: Is it a bird? It's a dragon!

A Future of Darkness: Chapter 2

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Wait, it's a dragon!

The instant Freya and I heard a roar, we naturally turned to see if we could make out the source of the noise. Sadly, we were able to see a large shape in the distance. To put it in proportion for you, our safe-house is mostly underground with some hidden entrances. It is also relatively small, and is easy to spot if one actually takes a look around. Thankfully the Risen are really stupid, and they can't really do much of anything without a command. In this case, I think we were out of luck with that, because the shape was looming closer and was starting to look more dragon-like. Not like Tiamat's Wyvern, but more like the dragons of olden tales. Needless to say, I doubt that anyone had seen a wild dragon in years. Freya and I looked at each other, and chose the smart idea of laying low and hiding in the base, close to the doorway.

"What the hell happened now?!" Yuri shouted at us from the hallway.

"Shh!" Freya and I whispered to him in unison, holding our forefingers to our lips.

"What happened?" he said again in a softer voice while moving towards us.

"Well, there's a dragon coming upon us, and I think that it may have noticed us." I said.

Yuri went pale, his green eyes dilating in horror. "A dragon. A _dragon!_ We're screwed! We're totally, utterly screwed!"

"Calm down!" I said, placing my hands on his shoulders to steady him, as he was wavering in place. "First, we need to warn everyone and get them as far underground as possible. Then, we need to hope to hell that this thing doesn't notice us."

"But..!"

"No buts!" Freya said. "This isn't the time for panic. Hopefully the civilians have started getting to safety after the thing roared."

Yuri still looked pale, but he seemed to be breathing at a more normal rate now. "You're right. I'll go spread the word to get below. You two follow behind soon." he said, running off. Our hideout had four levels, so hopefully we could get out of the dragon's "rage-path" with some room to spare.

"Go on ahead Freya. I want to check something out quickly." I said, turning my eye to the slit in the door. The dragon had gotten considerably closer, and I could see the red sheen of it's scales. I "scanned" the dragon, and saw that it was incredibly strong. It's stats were much higher than even Yuri's! I probably couldn't even touch the thing and hope to live!

"Are you alright?" Freya asked, leaning towards me.

"Well... If it comes to a fight with that thing, we're not gonna be able to do much, even with all four of us." I said, turning towards her. "We have to hope that this dragon is either very friendly, or doesn't notice us. At all."

"What are the chances of that?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. On a side note, she looks really adorable when she does that. On topic, I heard a growl from very close. I turned to peer out of the door slit and saw that the dragon was about twenty steps away from the secret door, and it was staring right at me.

"If I had to wager a guess, next to none." I said, turning back to Freya. "Think we can stall for a bit?"

Freya peered out the door with me, and nodded her head. "It's either that, or we wait for it to kill us."

We braced ourselves, taking out our weapons. We pushed open the door and were about to charge the dragon, but we were stopped by a shout.

"Die you dragonic asshole!"

We stared in shock as a man dressed in a hooded robe came charging from behind the dragon, holding a really cool looking sword in his hand. Me being the sword maniac that I am instantly recognized it as the legendary dragon-slaying blade, Wyrmslayer! We had a chance after all!

"You guys, don't just stand there! At least try to distract the thing if you can't do any damage!" the hooded man said, slashing at the dragon again. As the hit connected, the dragon roared in pain, then proceeded to breath fire at the man. I dashed to him and pushed him out of the way, surprisingly not taking much damage myself. Maybe I was fire-resistant?

"Thanks man!" he shouted, getting up after I had pushed him.

"No problem!" I shouted back.

There was a another roar from the dragon, and I turned to look at it. I saw a... lightning bolt? Who cast that spell? I let my gaze wander around the battlefield, and saw only Freya and the mystery man. Shortly after, I saw a wave of fire fly towards Freya, and hit her square on. No! Freya!

"Freya!" I shouted towards her. "Freya! Answer me!"

In response to my shouts, another bolt of lightning came out of the smoke cloud that the fire had created. As the smoke cleared, I saw Freya's frame, hunched over and in pain.

"I'm... Alright.." she said weakly. You don't sound fine you idiot!

I was about to rush over to her and give her a Concoction, but the dragon breathed more fire at her.

"FREYA!" I yelled in despair. Thankfully for me, she dodged out of the way and counterattacked with more lightning. The giant reptilian monstrosity roared again, and was about to release it's flamethrower again when the hooded man called to me.

"There's an opening!"

I lead in with a dashing attack, slashing at it's legs and distracting it from the main blow, which came seconds later from the man. He jumped on top of me as a stepping stool and leaped off of my back, launching a spinning aerial strike to finish off the dragon. The giant lizard fell to the ground after a final scream of pain, and the man in the robe landed on the ground, looking like a superhero. Well, he certainly saved us from this mess. I ran over to Freya and held a Concoction to her lips and made her drink it.

"Feel better?" I asked.

"Y-yeah... a bit. Thanks Kayl, and...?" she said, trailing off and looking at the hooded man.

"Call me Robin." he said. "I had been hunting that overgrown lizard for a good day or two, and thanks to you two it's no longer a problem for anyone. Thanks." Robin huh... That name sounds familiar...

"Robin? As in Robin of the Sheppards?" Freya asked, looking up at him. So _that's_ why the name sounded familiar. Robin, the master tactician of Ylisse, and one of the Exhalt's... err, Former Exhalt's best friends!

"I thought that Robin was dead though?" I said in a more questioning way than was probably necessary.

"That's... not completely accurate." Robin said, looking away. "Anyways, I must be on my way." He turned around and started to leave, but stopped. "Here, take this." he said, offering me his Wyrmslayer.

"I can't take your only weapon!" I said, putting my hands up.

"Who said that it's my only weapon?" he said, pulling out what looked like a high level Wind tome, possibly a Celica's Gale, and a Brave Sword.

"Well. In that case, I'll gladly take it." I said, accepting the sword. I took a moment to check his "stats screen" and saw that his name was indeed Robin, and he was of the Grandmaster class. I also saw that he was strong as all hell, stats wise. All of his stats had green numbers, which I had never seen on anyone before, so I assumed that meant that it was the highest that the stat could go.

"I'll be off then." Robin said, turning around and walking off.

After a few moments of silence, Freya and I looked at each other.

"Well, he saved our asses." I said.

"Yeah." Freya replied.

"Wanna let everyone know the news and get some sleep?"

"Yeah."

"Can you stand?"

"I think so." she said, trying to stand. As she was rising, her knees gave way and she fell down again. "Apparently not." she said, looking at me and giggling.

"You seem to laugh a lot, you know that?" I said, getting in a position to carry her on my back. "Here, get on. It'll be easier this way."

She stared at me quizzically for a moment, then smiled and wrapped her arms around my neck. I looped my arms around her legs to get her into a piggyback position, and stood up.

"You're pretty light." I said, walking towards the entrance to the base.

"You're such a gentleman. Will I be getting breakfast in bed next?" she asked in a joking manner.

"It's not a bad idea, but alas I can't cook here and the food kind of sucks." I said, smiling slightly. I wish that damned Dragon of Destruction hadn't been revived. Then I may have met Freya under other circumstances. Well, no point in complaining about it. Complaining won't change the past at all.

As I shouldered open the door, there were sounds of feet rushing over to us.

"Are you alright?!"

"What happened?"

"I heard there was a dragon, did you guys chase it away?"

"Are Freya's legs ok?"

Question after question was launched at us, and we struggled to get them to quiet down. We were about to start pushing through the people and making a run for it when a commanding voice came from behind the crowd.

"Silence everyone! Give them room to breath." The voice came from the leader of this little fallout shelter. No one really knew his name, or if they did they didn't call him by it. Instead, he was known as "Leader" or "The Leader." Kind of a generic name for a leading figure, but hey, it works.

The people parted ways for him to walk up to us.

"Perhaps you would like to rest in your rooms before telling us what happened out there?" Leader said in a monotone voice.

"That would be nice." I said. "What do you think?" I asked Freya.

"I'd like some rest as well." she replied. "Although... I still don't have much strength in my legs, so could you carry me to my room?"

"I don't mind."

"Alright then. Everyone! Let these two go to there rooms in peace!" Leader commanded. Everyone dispersed throughout the base and on with their daily business. I carried Freya to her room, and as we were going down the corridors I heard a soft breath in my ear. She had fallen asleep, apparently. Well, that's fine with me I guess. The only hard part will be opening the door.

"Need help?" A voice said from behind me. I turned and saw the familiar armored figure of Tiamat, holding her helmet to her hip and gesturing to the doorknob.

"That'd be appreciated" I said.

She opened the door and pushed inward, revealing Freya's room. It was... surprisingly empty, even compared to my room which had nothing in it other than a bed and a change of clothes. Freya's room only had a futon in one corner, and a small cooler in the other. I walked in and sat down on the futon, lowering Freya slowly off my back so as not to wake her up.

"How cute." Tiamat said, bending over and looking into the cooler and rummaging around for something.

"What do you mean?" I asked. I doubted that she'd be talking about the cooler in this case, but the only other thing in this room to call cute would be...

"Aha!" she exclaimed, pulling out two bottles of beer and holding them triumphantly over her head. "I meant you two of course. What else in here could be called cute?"

"Well, you could just have been referring to Freya, in which case I'd be fine with your choice completely." I said with a smirk.

It took a minute for my words to sink in, and when they did Tiamat's face turned a red color. "You're a little brat, you know that right?"

"If I'm 'little,' then you must be an old granny." I replied, my smirk getting more pronounced.

"I'm only twenty six! I'm not that old! Besides, I had thought that you were intelligent enough to tell a figure of speech from the truth." Tiamat replied, opening one of the beer cans and half draining it.

"Twenty six compared to twenty isn't that much of an age gap. And insulting my intelligence here will do nothing for your self-satisfaction." I said, edging away from the topic. In all honesty, I didn't have a comeback for that one yet.

"Oh really now? Why would that be?" Tiamat said, leaning against the wall and draining the rest of the can.

"Ahaha, because. I'm pretty sure that I have a better way with words than you do." I said, puffing my chest out. C'mon, fall for my bluff!

She considered it for a moment before saying "Fine fine, I'll yield for now." She turned, taking her weight off of the wall and she tossed the last beer can at me. "Heads up!"

I caught with one hand and was about to open it when...

WHAM!

Tiamat had rushed over from the opposite side of the room and slammed me into the wall.

"Oww! What the hell was that for?!" I asked in an annoyed tone.

"Just because I fell for your 'bluff,' if you can even call that petty word play a bluff, doesn't mean that you can best me in combat." she said, keeping her arm on my chest, holding me back.

"Damn lady, you're pretty strong!" I said, grunting and trying to get her off of me.

"I use an axe for a reason, brat." she replied, grinning in victory.

Time for my advanced tactics! "Cheap shot attack, GO!" I yelled. Due to my expectations, she lowered the pressure of her arm on me to get into a more defensive stance and I slipped away from her.

"You're right. That was a cheap tactic. Cheap, but effective. Well, I'm out for now, I have better things to do." she turned to walk out the door. "Also, don't take advantage of that girl, or I will rip off your family jewels. See ya."

Well, that's certainly an effective threat.

* * *

Alright, I had some time this weekend and wrote up this section. Hopefully, it's not completely terrible, and I'll go through later to finish correcting some errors and improve some parts. That is if I remember to do that, but whatever. I'll get it done eventually.

-Carmine


	4. Chapter 3: Exodus

A Future of Darkness: Chapter 3

Exodus

I looked after Tiamat's retreating figure in fear. I kind of liked not being in pain, so I decided not to challenge her. I sighed and looked at Freya's sleeping form. Dang, she's really cute when she's asleep. Wait a minute, I sound like some sort of pervert. I went over to her side, patted her on her head, and turned to leave. As I did that, I heard a small murmur and felt something tugging on my pant leg.

"Mmmm... Don't leave me alone..." Freya said, eyes closed and tugging on my pants a bit more.

I chuckled. "Fine fine, I'll stay by your side." I said, sitting down next to her on her bed.

After a few moments, I heard her breathing slowing down. She must have been tired. Not that I expected otherwise, I mean, we were going against one of the more powerful creatures in this world. Now that I think of it, I'm kinda tired too. I looked down at her, contemplating weather I should sleep sitting up, lying down, or not at all. I figured that not sleeping would be bad for me, and sleeping sitting up would give me back problems later in life, so I lay down next to her and fell asleep.

Some time passed when I was awoken by a knocking at the door.

"Hmm?" I mumbled. "Whoozat?"

"It's Yuri, the head honcho and myself." Tiamat's voice called from the other side of the door.

"Alright. Gimme a minute." I said, yawning loudly. As I was yawning, I realized two different things. The first was that I was hugging something warm, and there was an elastic feeling in my hands. The second was that the warm thing was Freya. My face went red as I realized what happened. I quickly got up and shook Freya awake. She woke up, and lifted herself into a sitting position, wiping sleep away from her eyes.

"Mmmm... I don't wanna wake up..." she complained.

"Well, we kinda need to tell everyone what happened with the dragon..." I said.

"I'm tired though!" she said, wrapping her arms around my neck and going limp. "I wanna go back to sleep!"

"Dammit Freya!" I shouted, trying to get her off.

"Is everything ok in there?" Yuri asked.

"Everything's... just... fine!" I said, trying in vain to get Freya to at least stand on her own. I shortly gave up and just walked over to the door with her hanging off of my back.

"Sorry for the wait!" I said, opening the door.

The guests entered the room, and noticing the lack of chairs all sat down on the bed.

"Now, would you kindly explain what happened?" Leader said.

"Well, Freya and I were outside killing Risen –" I began.

"No no no, not that. I mean _that_." he said, gesturing to Freya on my back, who had fallen asleep again.

"Oh. That. Right. Well, that stems off of what I was going to say anyways, so just bear with me for now." I said, sitting down. Everyone else, minus the Leader found something to sit down on, and Freya somehow let her head fall onto my lap.

"Alright, let me start from the beginning. I was on Risen Guard, and I saw a pack of them. Freya was passing by and decided to help me out, so we left and killed them all. Yuri and Tiamat came as well, and took down a few. We all left in our separate ways, Tiamat going with her wyvern, Yuri, Freya and I walking back into the base. We heard a roar and then saw a Red Dragon, and Freya and I went to slow it down while Yuri went to warn all of you." I told them.

"That was a bad idea." Leader said. "Dragon's generally don't notice things that it can't see or smell, and down two levels is definitely out of it's smell range."

"That's good to know for future encounters, but I didn't know that before now." I replied. That sure as hell would have been useful information. We'd just need to wait it out until it left.

"I would like you to continue though. How did you slay the Dragon?" Leader asked.

"We had some help. A robed man who called himself 'Robin' killed it." I said. Everyone in the room, minus myself and Freya, looked alarmed.

"Robin you say?" asked Yuri, breaking the silence that had descended over the room. "I thought that he had died years ago?"

"That's what we thought. When we asked this Robin about it, he said that the statement wasn't entirely accurate." I said.

"I... see." said Leader. "Thank you for sharing this story with us." He turned around, muttering something as he did so. "I shall take my leave and tell the rest about this. However, this Robin shall be a secret between us."

Everyone nodded as he exited the room. Silence descended once again, and we all stared at each other awkwardly.

"I'm gonna patrol the area." said Tiamat. "I have a bad feeling about how a Dragon and fifteen Risen appeared on the same day. Something's not right." She turned to leave, and Yuri said that he'd join her.

As they left, I stared at Freya's face and sighed. As much as I wanted to do something now, I couldn't without waking her up, and I'd rather not wake people up if I have the choice. I've done it before, and it had not gone well. At all. I decided just to fall asleep again, and as I drifted off, I had a strange dream. I was in a large room that I had never seen before, with a large round table in the center. The walls and ceiling were high, and it reminded me of a palace, only that everything seemed old and partially destroyed. At the head of the table there were two people arguing. One was a man wearing a coat with long tail like extensions off of the back, which if there was a breeze in the room would flap dramatically in the wind. He had his red hair cut short, and his arm was... Twitching? Yes, his arm was twitching. Although, twitching was an understatement for this degree of movement. It's like he had turrets in his arm. The other was a woman with long blue hair, and a regal appearance despite the fact that she was heatedly arguing.

"I'm telling you, this plan is going to work!" the woman said. Getting a closer look, it seems that she was more of a girl than a woman though.

"This... this plan of yours is utter blasphemy!" the man yelled in response. "This is going against everything that we've fought to achieve in this war!"

"And I'm telling you, if we do this everything will be reset, like it had never existed in the first place!"

"Hang on a second, run the plan by me again?" I asked, noticing that I was sitting at the table as well.

"You know this already Kayl, you're the one who came up with it!" the girl said to me in an annoyed and angry tone. "We have Naga guide us through the Outrealm to a time before my father died!"

"And I say this is a blasphemous plan because we don't even know if Naga can reverse time!" the man said. "We should focus on defeating Grima like the first Exhalt did many years ago!"

"The thing is, the Risen have destroyed how much of the population? How are we supposed to get that back before we kill him? Besides, he's turning the land into uninhabitable territory." I said. "This is our only chance at stopping this dastard." I'm honestly not sure what's going on, but if I came up with this plan, I'd better back it up. "Let's put it to a vote."

"Excuse me?" the girl said. "What will a vote do?"

"It's simple. We're divided amongst the decision, so we'll vote on it. Regardless of the decision, the minority will follow the majority. Sound good?" I said.

"I suppose that we can do it that way." she said reluctantly after a few moments. "Start the voting! All of those in favor of Owain's plan, raise your hand!"

We waited a few moments, and about half raised their hands. It was looking bad for my plan.

"All in favor of Kayl's plan?"

Yet again, about half raised there hands. We counted, and it turned out that my idea won by a single vote.

"Alright everyone, let's start Operation Chronodive!" I shouted in triumph.

"Operation Chronodive?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's what I'm calling this." I said. Why not? I made the plan, I get to choose the name.

"You know, this ritual already has –" she started. I was jolted awake by shouting, and Freya shaking me.

"Kayl, wake up! We have to leave!" there was a tone of worry and terror in her voice. "There are countless Risen invading! We have to run!"

* * *

Carmine here again! Sorry about the delay. The very, very long delay. I'd like to say that I was busy, but exams were over in mid June. I've just been really, really lazy. To be honest, chances are I'll release chapters like this once a month or so just because I'm that lazy about it. I'm trying to mend my ways, but video games and sleep get in my way. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

-Carmine


	5. Chapter 4: Hell on Earth

A Future of Darkness: Chapter 4

Hell on Earth

"Woah woah woah woah, WHAT?!" was my reaction to Freya's phrase on enlightenment. Risen? Here? How? Why? The questions ran through my mind with no answers.

"Yes, now hurry _up!_" Freya said, tugging on my arm. "We have to leave _now!_"

"What about the others?" I asked, standing and grabbing my sword, which I had tossed aside earlier. "What's their status?"

"I'm not sure! I saw Tiamat and Yuri in separate areas herding people to the exits while killing off Risen, but there were at least 5 people dead." she replied, pulling me out the door. We walked out of the room and turned to get the hell out of there. As we ran through the halls, we noticed many Risen who were destroying everything in their paths.

"Let's hurry out." I said in a whisper. "It'd be better if they didn't notice us." Freya nodded in agreement and we hurried on quickly, but quietly. We rounded a corner, and we saw someone running away stumbling on what appeared to be a pebble. As he stumbled, he rammed into a wall, stunning himself. Out of the hallway he had just ran from, an axe flew and hit him with a dull wet thud. The axe had dug through him and was sticking him to the wall, making him look like a bloody marionette. He gasped for air and fell limp, letting the axe carry his weight. I heard a groan from where the axe had came from. I saw the telltale black smoke of a Risen's breath, and as it's head came around the corner to retrieve it's axe, I rushed forward and stabbed it through the eye, killing it in one blow. It disappeared into ash and I sheathed my sword. I turned to see the man weakly attempting to speak. I leaned over so that he could talk into my ear.

"Please... help... me..." he said in a rasping breath. I stood and slid my sword out of it's sheath.

"What... what are you doing?" Freya asked, glancing at me nervously and shifting around.

"Helping him." I replied with a cold voice. I slid my sword through his chest into his heart, ending his life with the hiss of a blade slicing through flesh.

"What –" Freya started before I rushed in and covered her mouth.

"Shh! We don't want to attract more of them!" I said. She gave me an angry look, so I told her that I'd tell her my reasoning of why I killed him later. I personally think that it makes complete sense, but if she can't see it I'll explain. Later of course. First, we need to get the hell out of here. I grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the hallway leading to the entrance.

"There it is!" I said. The door! It was right ahead of us! We closed the distance quickly. Five meters. Four meters. Three meters. Two meters. One meter!

"HEEEEEEEEEELP!" came a scream from behind me. I turned around and saw three people, two women and one man running away from just as many Risen. I looked at Freya.

"Go outside, and find a place to hide. In five minutes, shoot a spell in the air, and I'll go to it's location." I said, pushing her out the door.

"I can help!" she protested.

"We have no time to argue! Just go!"

"No!" she yelled at me. Dammit woman, I don't have time for this!

"Fine!" I shouted. "You can help!"

We rushed back, Freya taking the lead. It'd be easier for her to hit enemies at a longer range now that I think about it. One of the humans stumbled and fell on the ground, tumbling head over heels.

"AAAAAHHHHH!" she screamed in horror. A Risen caught up to her and was about to bring it's axe down when –

BANG

Freya used her Elfire tome on the Risen, which made it flinch in pain and take a step back. I rushed in, jumping over the fallen person and stabbed the Risen in the neck, severing it's head and turning it into ash. Freya helped the fallen person up and ushered all three of them to the exit.

"You can handle the rest from here!" Freya shouted at me.

"Right!" I shouted back. Alright, one down, two to go. Thankfully in this hallway there wasn't much room for the Risen to move, so I could easily take them both out. The one closest to me was wielding a lance and stabbed at me with it. I dodged, counterattacking with an upper slash. I managed to damage it's arm, but it didn't take any fatal damage. There was a sharp pain in my shoulder and I was spun around slightly. Crap! The other one had a Throwing Axe! I tore the axe lodged in my shoulder out and cast it aside. This is gonna suck. I decided to rush to the axe thrower and kill him first. Sword trumps axe after all. I leaped over the Lance Risen and landed a critical hit, instantly turning the Axe Risen to ash. I turned around as the Lance Risen stabbed at me, but he only grazed my arm. I counterattacked with a kick to the chest and a stab to the face. After the hallway was clear, I ran outside to see Freya defending the civilians from two more Risen.

"Heads up!" I shouted over to her. A Risen wielding a sword in a stance similar to mine was about to slice Freya in two nicely proportioned halves. Thankfully, she heard my warning and dodged most of the attack, instead only getting a small bit of flesh on her arm cut off. That actually looks like it'd be really painful. She blasted the Risen with a Nosferatu, and somehow due to the Black Magic, her would was healed mostly, if not completely. The other Risen had managed to stab the one civilian who fell to the ground earlier. She screamed in pain as the sword sank into the flesh of her stomach. It wasn't a fatal wound, but if she were left unattended, she'd be dead shortly. I ran over to the Risen who was attacking the civilian, and managed to take it's arm off, which faded into ash. It roared at me, and tried to beat me with it's fist. I ducked under it and shoved my sword upwards through it's chest cavity. It stared me in the eye and growled menacingly as it faded away. I was shocked to be honest with you. I never thought that a single Risen could have made me shiver like that. I turned and saw Freya finishing off the other Risen with a blast from Elfire. I looked down at the lady who had been stabbed by the Risen and lifted her slightly, taking a concoction out of my bag and letting the life restoring liquid flow into her throat and into her stomach.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

She coughed and nodded. "Thanks to you, I think I'll live. This potion seems to be doing it's job." It was definitely doing it's job. Her bleeding had stopped, and her dead skin was peeling away to reveal new, fresh skin. "My name's Rimyuel by the way." she said, coughing again. "It's nice to meet you."

"Ahh, yes. Kayl's the name." I said in response.

She giggled weakly. "I think that we all know your name around here."

"Oh. That's right. I forgot." I said sheepishly. Upon closer inspection, Rimyuel was quite pretty. Long, blonde hair, a thin frame (not that anyone was fat these days, but hey, I prefer thin girls anyways,) and a pretty face. "Anyways, can you stand?"

She tried and failed to keep her weight on her legs. I picked her up and got her into a piggy back style carry.

"Sorry about this." she said.

"It's alright. Anyways, we have to get out of here before more Risen come." I said.

"Can't we lure the Risen out and kill them, then move back in?" the man in the civilian group, who's name was... George I think, asked.

"Bad idea." I said instantly. "One, we don't know how many there are left in there or how many more may come. Two, do you really want to see your friend's remains spattered across the walls and floor, let alone clean them up with probably no other survivors to help?"

George remained silent, glancing at me with a resentful look.

"Look." I said, sighing. "I know that you don't want to hear it, but that's the truth. Now, let's just leave and discuss this all later."

Everyone looked amongst themselves, shifting around and looking slightly ashamed.

"Fine fine, we'll stay in a relatively close location and observe the situation for an hour or two. If Freya and I come to the agreement that we leave, we leave. If we choose to stay, we'll stay. Sound good for everyone?"

They all nodded and we ran off to a nearby plateau with a cave-like opening in the side which we hid in. On the way, we introduced ourselves to each other again. The civilians were George, who had a sturdy build with moderately sized muscles, as well as brown hair. He was also pretty tall, and if he was anything other than a Villager class, I'd be pretty intimidated by him. Rimyuel was already introduced, and the other one was a woman named Rea. She was small and timid, with short black hair, pale skin and big red eyes.

"Alright everyone, now we wait." I said.

* * *

Hey everyone, here's the new chapter. Pretty soon after the previous release, but I think I've got a schedule to keep up releases every week or every few days, depending on how I do. Hopefully, this'll work out if I have the motivation and willpower to write a few hours every day late at night. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter. Feel free to give me any criticism that you feel necessary that isn't assholish or anything. Well, I'll probably take a break from writing for a week or so because video games, so yeah.

-Carmine


	6. Chapter 5: Reconnection

A Future of Darkness: Chapter 5

Reconnection

And so we waited for an hour, passing the time in silence. After the hour mark, I pulled Freya to the side.

"So, what do you think?" I asked her. "Stay, go, or observe for a bit longer?"

"Well... We saw more go in and a few come out, so I can assume that everyone who didn't make it out is dead." she said, looking towards the ground and shaking slightly. "We should probably go."

I nodded and hugged her.

"I agree. As sad as it is to say that our comrades are dead, we must accept the fact and move on. We have no time for grief now. Let's go." I went back to everyone else and gave them the news. They stared in silence at me and slowly gave me notice that they accepted the fact that this was going to happen.

"I suppose that we can't do anything about it." George said. "Let's get out of here as soon as possible."

"We should wait until nightfall, shouldn't we?" Rea asked in a timid voice.

"It's not worth it." I said to her with a more angry tone than was probably necessary. She let out a small yelp and hid behind Rimyuel who was sitting on the ground, propped against the wall of the cave. "Sorry. Anyways, it's not worth it because the Risen have better night-vision than we do, and they are easily better hunters as they don't tire out. It's best that we get a move on now and find somewhere to rest for the night, then continue on in the morning."

Everyone agreed that when it became too dark to see, we would find somewhere to hide out. It wouldn't be too hard in this area because of the very hilly nature of the place and the crevices and small caves that it offered. We ran as fast as possible with our party, managing a reasonable speed with an injured person and a person who doesn't have as much physical strength. Eventually, I had to pick up Rimyuel and George had to pick up Rea so that we could pick up our pace. As the sun sank below the horizon and the sky turned black, we managed to find a cave opening that was deep enough for us to hide in if Risen came wandering by, but close enough to multiple points of retreat. It was a pretty convenient hiding spot if I do say so myself.

"Alright everyone. We'll be staying here until daybreak. Freya and I will alternate watch shifts every three hours until the sun comes up. When that happens, we'll wake everyone up and we'll head North towards Regna Ferox. Hopefully, there'll be some shelter behind the walls of the boarder. Remember, stay quiet and hidden. I'll take first watch." I said. I turned and went to the mouth of the cave and sat down against the wall. Hopefully I wouldn't stand out too much. I heard some footsteps to my left, and turned to see Freya running up to me.

"Kayl!" she said, panting from the running we had just done. "Thank you for getting us out of there. If you weren't there, I think we'd all have died."

"I'm only doing my job." I replied. She giggled and kissed me on the cheek. My cheeks turned a pale shade of red, which hopefully couldn't be seen in this light. I patted her on the head. "I'm glad you're back to the happy Freya. Well, as happy as you can be after you've just fled a secret underground base filled with zombies trying to kill you." She giggled again and started heading back to the others farther down into the cave. She turned back to me.

"You're really strong, you know?"

Before I could reply, she had turned and left.

"Strong, eh?" I said to myself quietly. "That's one way of putting it."

The moon rose high in the sky, showing the passage of time. Sorry I lied, Freya. I'm not planning on making anyone else stay awake later than necessary. I heard a rustling behind me and held completely still. If it was a Risen, hopefully it'd pass by and leave us be. I didn't want to kill it in case there were any others nearby and attract them to our location. I moved slightly down into a crouching position and moved behind a small ledge to obscure myself from sight and held my breath. The Risen (because what else would it be?) shuffled by slowly. It paused right on the other side on the ledge and knocked twice, once, then three times. Wait a minute, that's not a Risen. That's –

"Tiamat? Yuri?" I said. That was the knock that we used to know that someone was coming back from a patrol of the area! I dashed out around the corner and ran headlong into a big, soft object. Make that two big, soft objects. Due to the sloping entrance, Tiamat was on a higher level than me. Apparently, higher enough for me to run into her –

"WAAaaaah!" I let out a loud cry, which was quickly muffled by a hand. The reason for the cry was due to a quick shift from a vertical position to a horizontal position. In other words, I fell on top of Tiamat's chest.

"You little brat..." Tiamat said with a hidden rage. I could tell she was really, really angry because her entire body was shaking. "Get off before I shatter you with an axe." Let's just say, I regained my vertical position very quickly. I offered my hand to Tiamat to help her up, and she took it, pulling herself up and making me have to really try to not get pulled down. Damn she's strong! Well, she lugs around that heavy axe all the time, so I'm not too surprised. She brushed herself off and stared me dead in the eye.

"Where's Freya?"

"She's inside the cave with three survivors. Where's Yuri?"

"I saw him get away. Should we get Freya to shoot an Elfire or Elthunder into the sky to signal him?" Tiamat asked, looking worried.

"Too risky." I said, shooting down her idea instantly. "Do you want a couple dozen Risen coming down on our heads?"

"Tch."

"Anyways, do you want to come inside?" I asked.

"No, I'll stand watch with you. I don't think that I can sleep right now." She said, sitting on the ground and removing the heavy part of her armor, leaving only a leather top and comfortable looking pants on.

"You look nice." I said, sitting across from her.

"Thank you. I try my best, even during times like this." she replied. I wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not, but she had a sad expression on her face.

"Why do you look so sad?" I asked. She remained in silence for a few moments. During those few moments, my mind roamed to how she looked like some sort of nobility without her armor. Then I realized that my face should have been cut from landing on her chestplate, and I looked at it. It was torn apart badly, and there was a gaping hole in it.

"I... Before the world ended, I was raised by my parents to be a "proper young lady" and get married off to a rich man." she sighed and continued. "I secretly went out at night and entered an arena under the name "Drako" and won all of my matches up until the final. It was a really nice night, and it was the the first time I'd ever fought anyone in my life." she said, her sad face morphing into a nostalgic expression.

"Did you use an axe?" I asked.

"No, I actually used a lance and bow." She replied. "A strange weapon combination, but it worked really, really well that night."

Bow and lance? What the hell kind of class used that weapon set?

"Hey, Tiamat? Can I try something quickly?" I asked her.

"Umm... sure? What are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna try to see your class." I answered her.

"'Class?' What's a class?"

"Basically... It's a specialization that lets you use certain weapons and if you're in the class long enough, you gain certain skills which can vary greatly in effect." I explained. She had a very confused expression on her face.

"So basically... everyone has a class, those classes permit what you can do in battle?" she summarized.

"Pretty much, yeah."

"So, how can you check this?" she asked.

"Erm... Due to reasons, I can tell stuff like this, as well as gauge the strength of enemies. Anyways, I'm gonna try to check something for the moment, so hold still." I said. She didn't move and breathed shallowly. I closed my eyes and placed my hands on either side of her head. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes, staring into hers. They were a deep, watery blue. It seemed like I could drown in them if I stared into them deeply. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that her face had a slight red tinge to it. In my mind, I "opened" her stat screen. It showed her class of Wyvern Rider, her level which had risen from 15 to 17 as she had killed some Risen in the Exodus. It contained her skills of "Strength + 2," "Tantiviy," "Rally Heart," and "Bond." I searched through my knowledge of which classes had those skills. I knew that Strength + 2 and Tantivy were from the Wyvern Rider class, but Rally Heart? What the hell was that? And Bond? Those did not seem like the skills that someone such as Tiamat would have. She was kind of strict and rough as a personality, but maybe there was a hidden lovable her that no one knew? It sure seemed that way from her current actions and her skills. I tried something with the stat screen that I had never done before, and never thought that it was possible. I accessed her "Class History." She had three classes. Her first, "Villager." Her second... "Bride?!" I couldn't help laughing softly out loud.

"What, what's so funny?" she asked, her face becoming slightly more red.

"Your other class." I said between giggles. "You were a Bride class." Her face went crimson.

"B-b-bride?! That's a class?!" she stuttered.

"Apparently so. Although that class is very good." I said. Now that I knew the class name, I could access all information about it. Don't ask me how, I don't know. Information is power though, so I'm not taking this for granted at all. "If you had stayed a Bride, you would have gotten pretty strong. And you could heal people. You could take some hits as well too." I said, observing my new fountain of information. "Dang, you should turn back into a Bride." I said jokingly.

"Shut up!" she said, pushing me away from her. I sat up and laughed.

"You embarrassed?" I asked tauntingly. I have never seen this Tiamat before, and I was going to enjoy it as much as possible. She pushed me down to the ground and sat on top of me to keep me down.

"Look here punk. I won't ask again. Shut up about it." she said, her face inching closer to mine. Her expression was very intimidating, so I decided that it'd be a good idea to listen to her.

"Sorry, sorry. My bad" I said, smiling sheepishly.

She looked off into the distance with a sad expression again. "I wonder where Yuri is..." She said, sighing. She must be really worried about him. To get her mind off of her worries, we talked about random things from before this hellhole came into being until morning. We went deeper into the cave and woke everyone.

"C'mon guys, we need to get up. We need to get a move on if we want to make any distance by nightfall." I said, shaking Rea and Frea awake. Tiamat was waking up Rimyuel and George, saying the same thing pretty much. We had spoken of a plan for the day. Step one: Get everyone up. Step two: Eat. Tiamat had stolen some food from the stores when she went on her patrol earlier, which was a really damn good thing. Step 3: Retrieve Tiamat's wyvern, Daak, and get as far away from here as possible. Thankfully, Daak was on top of this cave, and he was standing guard along with Tiamat and I.

"Mmmm? Tia? Is that you?" Rimyuel said, rubbing her eyes and sitting up. "When'd you get here?"

"Tiamat!" Freya exclaimed in surprise, rushing over and giving her a big hug. "You're alright!"

"Yeah yeah, I'm alright. I got here sometime last night and stood watch with Kayl."

"Oh, that's nice." Freya said, still hugging Tiamat and smiling. Her smile quickly turned into a disappointed frown, and she walked over to me. "You! You were supposed to wake me up so that we could shift the watch! Why didn't you?" she said in a scolding tone, waving her finger at me.

"Err... You could say... that I forgot?" I said with an obvious questioning tone.

"You're lying!" she said, moving closer to me. "Why did you really forget to switch? Was it because of some sort of late night activity with Tiamat?" Everyone's faces turned various shades of red, mine and Tiamat's the brightest.

"No no, nothing like that. I just wanted everyone to get a nice sleep after that." I explained.

"You wanted everyone else to sleep at the cost of not sleeping yourself?" Freya asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Yeah. I'm the kind of person who would go out of my way to make thing easier for people, even at my own inconvenience. It's... a personality trait that was engraved into me since childhood." I said. Wow, I never expected myself to be talking about my childhood here. Whatever, things happen and things get said.

"I see..." said Freya, backing up. "In that case, I'll forgive you this time." she smiled at me. I smiled back. What can I say, even in this hellhole, her smile is contagious.

"Sorry to disrupt your mini lovers quarrel, but we should eat and leave." Rimyuel said.

"Ah. Yeah." I replied. Lovers quarrel? That's... one way to call it I guess? We divvied up bread amongst us five and went outside to get Daak. He was asleep. Somehow, he looked adorable when asleep. I can say now that I have strange tastes apparently.

"Oy, Daak. Get the hell up." Tiamat said, patting him on the head. He grumbled and let out a large yawn. He got up and looked around, sniffed, and took flight. The wind gust blew us back a step, and he did some aerial acrobatics, then touched down on the ground.

"Fancy." George said, shielding his eyes from the blazing sun rising in the sky. "Does he do that every day?"

"Yep. He does it to keep in shape." Tiamat explained, looking proud and patting him again.

"Dragons get fat?" George asked with a slightly bewildered expression.

"Well, you need to exercise to be in top shape, don't you? Same with Wyverns."

"I see."

"Anyways, let's go. Rim, you're injured still, so you can ride on Daak. Rea, are you fine with being carried by Kayl or George?" Tiamat asked.

"Umm... can George carry me?" Rea asked. "I want Kayl to sleep." Aww, Rea, you're so kind. You're like a ray of sunshine on a rainy day!

I cleared my throat. "Thanks for your concern Rea, but I'm not that tired." It was true. I can stay up for a week straight it I want to without feeling too many negative effects. She walked up to me and poked my in the chest.

"You. Will. Sleep. On. Daak." she said, poking me harder and harder with each word.

"Ow ow ow! Alright alright, I get it! I'll sleep!" I said, grumbling and climbing onto Daak with Rimyuel.

"What, baby doesn't want to take a nap?~" Rimyuel teased.

"Shut up." was my response. "Now that I think about it, shouldn't Tiamat be sleeping as well due to that logic? She stayed up with me as well." I said. Rea considered it for a moment or two, then pushed Tiamat over to Daak as well.

"Sleep!" she commanded. Tiamat stared into her eyes with a pleading "Don't make me do this" look, but Rea's eyes didn't budge. She accepted the fact with a sigh and climbed on as well.

"Be thankful that Daak is a large Wyvern, otherwise three people'd be hard to carry for him." Tiamat said, sitting in front of me and leaning against me. "I'll be sleeping now." she said, resting her head on my chest and closing her eyes. In minutes, her breathing lightened and she was asleep.

"Alright." I said. "Onwards to thataway!" I pointed North and we marched. About half an hour into it, my back got sore from not leaning against something and having pressure forcing me back, so I asked Rimyuel if I could lean on her.

"No problem." she said. "And just call me Rim. Everyone does anyway." I leaned back, and felt something soft pressing against the back of my head. I let my weight fall onto it more, but all of a sudden it wasn't there and my head fell back farther.

"Waah!" I shouted in surprise. Apparently, Rim had leaned back as well so that she was laying down. She giggled.

The sun rose high in the sky, and we stopped for lunch on an overhang that was overlooking a valley. I had managed to sleep for an hour or so on Daak, but he wasn't too comfortable. We got off and spread around more bread between us. As we finished up, we heard the sound of clashing metal and a scream of rage from inside the valley and we all looked over the edge. What we saw shocked us.

"Yuri!" Tiamat shouted. It was Yuri! That's great! Wait, no it's not. With him were thirty Risen chasing after him.

* * *

Hey there everyone, it's another chapter. Chapter 5, and I think my longest one yet. It took me like, two to three hours to write. On a side note, due to Shin Megami Tensei IV coming out, my writing will probably decrease by a lot because hurray for video games! I do wish that the 3DS had a longer battery life though, but it hasn't bothered me too much so far. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

-Carmine


	7. Chapter 6: Wounds of Karma

A Future of Darkness: Chapter 6

Wounds of Karma

"Holy crap, Yuri's alive!" I heard Rea shout from behind me.

"He won't be if we don't hurry up and help him." I said, grabbing my trusty Steel Sword and climbing swiftly down the cliff-side to Yuri. "Oy! Yuri! We're coming for ya!"

He looked over to me at the sound of my voice and smiled. "Kayl! Tiamat! Freya! You're all alive!" He turned and sliced a Risen in two, it's body fading to ash and disappearing in the wind. One of them jumped over a rock at him, and it cleaved its axe in a silver arc.

"Watch out!" I shouted.

CLANG!

A Silver Axe went flying through the air, and a black shape filled the space where the Risen had occupied. Tiamat and Daak had come from the sky and killed the Risen, blocking the strike and saving Yuri's life.

"Thanks Tiamat!" Yuri said as another Risen approached him and stabbed at him with a lance. The tip pierced his skin and he cried out in pain. Thankfully, it didn't stab too far in before Daak tail-slammed the lance and it shattered into pieces. Tiamat threw her axe at the Risen, and it sliced clean through it's head, only to fall to the ground after it disappeared. I finished climbing down the cliff, and joined the fray. I ran behind a Risen and stabbed it in the back of the head, and ran on to the next. The Risen were swarming around Tiamat and Yuri, but they seemed to be holding their own. They were in such sync, it seemed like they could communicate telepathically or something. In any case, that means that I don't have to watch over them and I can kill any stragglers. I looked around for Freya and the villagers. Freya was climbing down the cliff, and the others were watching from above.

"Freya!" I called. "Let's pair up!"

She nodded and ran over to me. As usual, she took the lead with me supporting, and we killed most of the stragglers. Risen turned to ash around us, and we fought in sync like Yuri and Tiamat. Our moves were streamlined and precise, Freya casting spell after spell, and me dashing towards them and finishing them off. When Freya took a heavy hit, we switched places and I started my part of the massacre. To be honest, I loved it. The feeling of power, the rush of adrenaline, my blade slicing through flesh, it was all so exhilarating. My face twisted in a grin of joy as I sliced my way through at least ten more Risen. I stood on a mountain of corpses and stared into the sky. Then I realized that I must have gotten too much of an adrenaline high, because Risen don't stick around after you kill them. Turns out that I was just standing on a rock. Tiamat and Yuri had finished up hacking the other twenty or so Risen to bits and came over to Freya and I.

"I'm glad to have ran into you guys." Yuri said. "I'd be dead if it weren't for you."

"It's bad luck to say things like that Yuri." Tiamat said, poking him on the forehead. "Don't jinx us coming to help."

Turns out, jinxes do exist. And they exist to royally screw over everyone on the planet. I say this because right then, a Risen came barreling towards Freya, who was still on the ground after her wounds. Yuri shouted and dove, pushing Freya out of the way. The Risen rammed into Yuri, knocking him even more off balance. He managed to do a fancy flip and got back up on his feet, only to have that Risen bite down on his arm and tear a chuck out of it. Yuri screamed in pain, clutching his arm and kneeling down on the ground. The Risen was going to tear another chunk of flesh off, but his head was split in half by a throwing axe and it disappeared into ash.

"YURI!" Tiamat shouted, jumping off of Daak and running over to Yuri's side. "Someone, get the first aid supplies!" her tone was desperate. There was an air of somberness. Rim walked over to Tiamat and laid her hand on her shoulder.

"There is no first aid supplies Tia." she said softly. "We can try to stop the bleeding, but any infection will have to be stopped with his own immune system."

"No... no... no no no no no!" Tiamat said over and over again. "No no no no no!" She started crying.

"It's okay Tiamat." Yuri said, looking up at her and smiled. It looked pained, but it calmed her down a bit. "First things first, let's wrap this up." he said, gesturing to his arm. "Then, we should find a small cave or something to rest in."

We carefully lifted him and set him on Daak's back. Tiamat climbed on there with him to make sure that he didn't fall off, and to start bandaging his wound. I carried Rim on my back, and everyone else walked. We moved as quickly and efficiently as possible with an injured person, and soon we came across a cave large enough for all of us to fit in. We lowered Yuri into the cave, and I set Rim down so that she could lean against a wall. I took a look at his wound. It looked red and puffy with some dark purple ooze coming down his arm in streams.

"Well, it's sure as hell infected." I said. "Probably a blood infection or something. If we had some medicine, we could definitely treat this, but without them..." I trailed off.

Tiamat looked at me. "Without them what?" she said quietly. I remained silent, looking off into the space behind her right shoulder. "Kayl, without them what will happen?" she said, her voice getting louder.

"Without them he'll probably die. We stopped the bleeding soon enough, but he had already lost quite a bit. Also, that infection will tear him apart from the inside." I replied, my voice monotone. I looked straight at her this time. "There is also a chance that he may turn into a Risen."

The cave fell silent. All that could be heard was the sound of wind blowing outside.

"What do you mean, he'll turn into one?" Tiamat said, standing up and slowly walking towards me. "That's impossible, right?" her voice took on a hint of fear. Fear and something that sounded like it wanted me to say "Just kidding, he'll be fine." That was certainly not the case.

"After he dies from a fever, he'll turn into one." I said, my voice still monotone. Her face changed from sorrow, to disbelief. "It may take a few hours after death, it may take a few days, or even minutes. It will happen eventually, there is no denying or disproving that fact."

Her face fell into despair, and she sank to her knees, clutching at my leg murmuring "It can't be true, it can't be true!" over and over again in a quiet voice.

"Umm... How do you know that, sir?" Rea said, her head poking out from behind Rim's back.

I looked down at Tiamat, who had begun to cry. "It happened to my best friend. When this hell was unleashed, Risen swarmed all the towns, remember?" everyone nodded. "My friend Kain and I were at his house doing... dear gods, I can't even remember now. Anyways, we were there and then the Risen came up and attacked us. They tore down the door and swarmed the place. Being slightly hot headed and stupid, we grabbed our weapons and tried fighting them. We did pretty well until one of them snuck up behind me. Kain pushed me out of the way, and the thing bit him and tore out his throat..." my throat tightened. Damn, this was harder than I thought to retell. "Long story short, I ran away like a coward and hid. A few days later, I emerged and saw him running around lifelessly as one of those things. I couldn't leave him like that, so I stabbed through his heart and took his weapon when it dropped." I pulled out a knife that was about the length of my forearm, and stared at it. I noticed the awkward silence left in the wake of my story, and put it away with a quick "Sorry."

"There's no need to apologize." Freya said. "It's a sad story."

I heard a sniffle from below me.

"So.. so he'll turn into one of.. of t-those things?" Tiamat said between small hiccups and sniffles. I bent down and gave her a soft hug.

"Yeah."

"Well, I hope that I kick ass then." Yuri said.

We all stared at him and said "Huh?"

"You see, if I can kick some Risen's asses by becoming one, that'd be awesome. Or maybe if I was revived as a Deadlord or something." he said, grinning. I let out a short laugh.

"Yeah, and if you become one, I'll challenge you to a duel." I said.

"See there Tiamat?" he said. "Becoming a Risen won't be all that bad. I'll get to have a fair duel with Kayl." She sniffled again and smiled slightly, moving over to hug him gently.

"Yeah, that's true. I know that he's wanted to duel you for some time now." she said.

"Oh really? Is that true?" he asked, directing the question at me.

"Well, yeah. Just to stave off the monotony of doing nothing. Although that's changed now. And what do you mean by "fair duel?" I said.

"Well, when I'm a Risen, my movements'll be slowed down right? So you'll have a fighting chance."

"You asshole..." I replied. "I could have taken you any time I wanted!"

"Sure sure, tell that to you tripping on nothing last month!" he replied jovially. Damn, I had hoped that he didn't remember that. I had challenged him earlier, and tripped over apparently nothing and made a fool out of myself.

"Ah, you're jerk." I replied. "I only tripped because I didn't want to whoop you too hard." Our banter continued back and forth for twenty more minutes. Gradually, the air got lighter as everyone started to cheer up a little. Rea, Rim and George went off into their own conversation, and Tiamat, still staying by Yuri's side, started talking about something or other that I didn't pay attention to. As time went on, Yuri grew paler and paler, until eventually –

"Time over." Yuri said. Everyone moved to gather around him. "I'm sorry that I couldn't be with everyone for longer." he gazed at me. "You know, I was going to take you in as a pupil and teach you how to fight. I made a scroll that should teach you the skill "Astra." I hope it serves you well." his gaze shifted to Freya. "You were always a bright and cheerful person, even in bad situations. I hope that you continue to be like that and cheer them up when I'm gone." he shifted his eyes towards Tiamat. "I love you." he said, leaning his head forward to kiss her lightly. "I've always wanted you to know that." He gazed back at me. "Keep them alive, alright? I'm leaving them in your care." he weakly brought his fist into the air. "To the survival of this group!" his voice was ragged, his breaths coming out in sharp, quick gasps. I brought my fist to his.

"To the sound of a heartbeat pounding away." I said sadly, managing a weak smile. He smiled back at me.

"Thank you for everything." he stuck his hand in his pocket and took out a small scroll. "This is it." he said. "My signature move. Use it well." I took the scroll from him.

"Thank you, Master Yuri." I said. I felt the tears fighting to break free. For the sake of this group, I can't cry...! I heard sniffled and sobs all around me.

"You're welcome... my... pupil..." his voice trailed off, and his body went limp.

"Yuri... You were a great man." I said, closing his eyes. "I didn't know you for long, but you were one of the best people I ever knew. Rest in peace, my friend."

Yuri, the greatest Swordmaster that I knew, and a good man, lie dead before us.

* * *

Hey there, it's Carmine. This chapter's a bit depressing, but on the bright side I updated :D. Anyways, I think I may be slightly addicted to SMT IV and League of Legends, as that's pretty much all I've been doing this past week. After playing SMT IV, I also suddenly feel like writing a fanfic about that too... I guess I like writing about post apocalyptic stuff, who knows? Anyways, I hope that you guys enjoy the chapter, and look forward to the next one!

-Carmine


	8. Chapter 7: First DanceDance of the Dead

A Future of Darkness: Chapter 7:

First Dance/Dance with the Dead

Yuri was dead. That was the simple truth of it, yet why was that truth so hard to accept? I tuned out the world. If there was a Risen attack at this moment, I probably would just stare and pretend it doesn't exist. I saw Tiamat and Freya crying over his body, and George comforting Rim and Rea, who were also crying. George also looked like he was holding back tears. That's odd. Why am I the only one who wasn't crying, nor had the urge to cry? Did that mean that I have no emotions? No, that can't be true. I feel... empty. Yes, that's it. Empty. I don't know why though. When I saw my friend slaughtered, I cried and mourned then. When I saw the people dying in my hometown as I ran, I cried. It must have been after that when I became desensitized to death and killing. When we ran from our hideout, I felt nothing. Well, no use worrying about that now.

"We need to give Yuri a proper burial." I said. "And then we'll leave as soon as possible." I looked out of the cave, and saw that the sun was sinking. "Scratch that. We'll leave at first light."

Everyone looked at me quietly. The cave was silent, except for the sniffles and small sobs coming from Tiamat.

"Where can we bury him in this world of stone?" Rea said timidly, hiding behind Rim, only poking her head out.

"I doubt that the world is made completely of stone, but you do have a point. Everywhere around here is rock, rock, and rock." I said, thinking of an ideal place. "I'll search farther in the cave and see if there's a good place to set the body." No use standing around and getting nothing done. I need to be on my feet and moving. I got up and wandered to the back of the cave. It was dark, so dark, and I couldn't see anything. Will I get lost here I wonder? Hah. That'd be just great. First our strongest fighter is gone, and then me, the makeshift leader disappears into naught. Everyone'd end up dying. No, you can't think like that you idiot. Yuri told you to keep everyone alive. If you die now, you'll be killing five other people. My thoughts wandered like that until I noticed a small light coming from my right. Naturally, I followed it and, as the light grew brighter, found a large room filled with light. There were stones emitting a bright light scattered around the room.

"Well. Ain't that convenient." I said. I picked up seven stones of a reasonable size, and put them in my pockets. Free light is nice. "Y'know... This would be the perfect place to put his body..." I said to myself. I headed back, using the light from the glowstone to guide me.

"Hey there everyone, I'm back." I said, returning to the main room. "I found a place where... What the hell?" Everyone was on the ground. Normally, I would say they were asleep, except for the fact that there was blood on the ground, and there was a dead man walking. Yes, Yuri had come back to life as a Risen, and he was standing above Tiamat and Freya, who were on the floor, looking up at him in fear. Freya was clutching her side, which I noticed was dyed crimson with her blood. Rea and Rim were also bleeding, but George was quietly tending to their wounds, despite having a gash on his back and arm himself. My entrance must have distracted Yuri – no, the Risen that used to be Yuri. His head turned sideways to face me, his breath coming out in short bursts of ash. He was pale, oh so pale. He stared into my eyes. Pitch black into piercing blue. Blackest night into the morning sky. I tried to keep a calm head, but seeing Freya and Tiamat terrified and bloody got my blood boiling. This bastard. It had killed Yuri and taken his body to kill the one that he loved the most. I will never forgive him!

I pulled out my sword and rushed at him, attacking with a lunge. He parried with his own sword and counter attacked with a downward chop. I managed to roll out of the way in time, and his blade bounced off of the rock below.

"Tiamat, Freya, get to the back of the cave now! I'll distract him so that you can gather yourselves to help Rim, Rea and George!" I shouted, blocking another attack from the Yuri Risen. I feinted with a stab to the gut. He fell for it, thankfully, and I twisted my wrist so the point of my sword cut across his chest. He roared in pain and took a step back. Using the opportunity, I hoisted Freya over one shoulder and Tiamat over the other, and ran to where the others were. Sadly, I had to drop my sword but their lives mean more than a weapon to me. I set them down gently and told them to stay there and rest up.

"Kayl, behind you!" A small voice cried out. I saw Rea pointing over my shoulder, and instinctively pulled out Kain's knife and blocked the sword that was about to slice off my head. I was honestly surprised that this knife was able to take such a blow and not shatter, but I was glad for it. I threw off his blade, and spun around, aiming a quick stab at where his heart was, but he moved out of the way and the knife sunk into his arm. This time, he didn't roar in pain, probably because I hit his bite wound which probably didn't have any nerves in it anymore. He punched me in the face, and I fell back, dropping my knife. It wasn't a hard hit, but it sure as hell surprised me. As I was recovering, I rolled away from everyone. I had to take his attention off of them! Thankfully, he turned to me and attacked again. I dodged, ran back to my sword, and grabbed it, turning to face him again. He lunged at me, and I parried his blow and countered with a sideways cut. He dodged and did a sweep kick, knocking me on my back. His sword came down like the hammer of justice, biting deep into my arm, chest and neck.

"Aaaaah!" I screamed, blood gushing out of my fresh wounds.

"Kayl!" Freya shouted, shooting a blast of dark energy towards Yuri. His head whipped around and he bent back, the Nosferatu spell speeding past him and dissipating into the night. Yuri walked over to Freya, who had crawled away from everyone else. He held his sword above her, turning it so that the blade was perpendicular to her body. Her face was warped with terror, and she let out a scream.

"KAYL!"

Her voice pierced through me. She was in danger, I had to help her!

"You bastard!" I shouted, grabbing my sword and running at him. He turned to face me, shifting his grip on his sword and slashing a wide arc towards me. My senses heightened, and I sped through the opening that I saw due to my Vantage skill. The arc went over my head, and I felt a new skill activating. My sword seemed to be guided by an unseen hand. I slashed at him, first with an uppercut to the arm to disarm him. Then, two slashes in a cross shape on his chest, followed by a downward cleave. I thrust my sword through his chest cavity, my blade slicing through his flesh into his lungs. His body went limp, falling on my sword and, due to my senses going back to normal and the adrenaline rush receding, his body fell on me and pushed me down to the ground.

"Thank... you..." a voice whispered in my ear.

"Yu...ri?" I said in disbelief. I had heard of Risen maintaining some of there original personality, but I had never heard of any of them _speaking_ after they turned.

"Thank you... for preventing me from harming my beloved..." he said faintly. "Please... take.. take my sword. Put it to good use.."

I looked at him. His body was slowly fading into ash.

"Not again Yuri..." I said. "Why do we have to lose you again?" Two times in one day? That's too much to handle. He let out a sound halfway between a laugh and a grunt.

"I guess... because fate is a cruel mistress...?" he said.

"Fate... that's bull. We are not pawns of some scripted destiny..." I said. I had heard that during the war with Valm, Robin had said something similar, and I took a liking to that quote. I found it fitting to say, even during times like this.

Yuri laughed again. "I guess you're right. Either way, my time is running short." It was true. The ash had started wearing away at his chest "Give.. give Tia my best... and give her my sincerest apologies."

"Give them to her yourself!" I said, turning him to face Tiamat who had walked over. She had a few cuts on her face, arms and legs. There was a small cut on her side, which was bleeding slightly.

"Tia..." his face softened. "I'm sorry for... that." he said, gesturing to her wounds with what little of an arm he had left.

"No, it's fine." she said, kneeling down next to him.

"I see... It seems that my time is up." he said. He was only a head at this point. Tiamat took his head and hugged it tightly

"Don't leave me!" Tiamat said, crying. "Not again!"

"I'm sorry, my love... I'll..." he started, but before he could finish, he disappeared, leaving a single tear to fall.

We lost him again. Dammit Yuri, why do we keep letting you die?!

"Why..." Tiamat said, clutching at her shoulders. "Why did you have to kill him?!" She got up and hit me. I was surprised at first, but it was understandable.

"Tia, no!" Freya shouted, making to move over here.

"Freya, stop." I said calmly, getting hit over and over by Tiamat in the chest. "She needs to get this out."

And she did. She kept on hitting and hitting me, crying hard. For a good five minutes this went on, until her hits slowed. I wrapped my arms around her slender frame and hugged her tightly.

"Remember this, Tiamat." I said. "It's not a matter of if you can or you can't. It's a matter of if you do or you don't. You may think that you can't survive anymore without him, but you can and will. That was what he left me to do." I felt tears streaming down my face. "It's my plan to keep us all alive and surviving, and that's what I'll do. I swear it."

* * *

Well, I pumped this out over the day, and managed to write less than I normally do. I got my plans for this chapter out of the way, and if I extended the fighting between them any longer, it'd just be kinda bleh. I could have extended the scene at the end a bit more, but I wanted to get it finished and out on here for you lovely readers who I probably have no idea that you exist~ Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this, and I apologize for the delay (if any of you thought that it was a delay) again, due to video games and life. Either way, I wish you all well.

-Carmine


	9. Chapter 8: Survival of Naught pt 1

A Future of Darkness: Chapter 8

Survival of Naught pt 1

It was the next morning when we departed. Tiamat lay beside the spot where Yuri had disappeared all night, and hadn't slept a wink. None of us had, except for Rea, who had been too mentally exhausted to be able to stay awake. I think that Rim forced herself to sleep as well, but I was too busy keeping watch to care about what was going on. I vaguely remember Freya sitting next to me in silence for awhile, but other than that, the night had been a blur. The morning came, and we held a small dedication to Yuri in the Glowstone room, and I made sure that everyone had a chunk of it on them, then took some extra in case we may need it later. I took Yuri's sword, and cut a large X in the floor of the cave. "This is the spot where a good man died" I carved next to it. "May no one slander his name."

We rode off, Tiamat and Rim on Daak's back, Rea was carried by George after she had proven unable to walk on her own for more than five miles at a time, it was deemed necessary. Freya and I walked side by side ahead of the group, chatting about random things. How nice the weather was, how annoying the walk was, stuff like that. Anything to keep our minds off of the death of Yuri.

"Hey Kayl." Freya said suddenly, after a moment or two of silence.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"Before all this..." she faded out a little. I nodded. She meant this whole Risen apocalypse thing, not Yuri's death. "Before all this, did you have a girlfriend?" she asked.

"Nope." The answer was automatic. My mind registered what she had said after the fact though, and had immediately started to consider what other meanings that question could have.

"You were single?" she said in a bewildered tone. "I'm sure that a guy like you would have had at least a few women who wanted to be with you."

"Well, there were a few." I said, tilting my head in recollection. Well, it seems like this is just idle chatter as well.

"Really?" she asked. "Were they pretty?"

"Yeah. They were really good looking." I answered.

"Smart?"

"Yup."

A short silence.

"Why didn't you like any of them?" she asked.

"How do you know that I didn't like one of them?" I replied, answering her question with one of my own.

"Your expression. Your tone. Despite what you may think, you're easy to read if someone knows what to look for." she said, nudging my side and winking at me. Huh. That's interesting. I decided to answer her original question.

"They were those rich snobby girl types, just looking around the poorer parts of the city for kicks, maybe to have a one night stand with someone who could 'give them a taste of life in the slums' as I've heard them say." I said.

"So they just wanted to have..." her voice faded again, her face turning red.

"Essentially." I said. "Either that, or they wanted to intermingle with the lower class people normally. I've heard more of the former happening though."

"I see." she said. There was another moment of silence. "So you were.. poor?" she asked in a timid tone.

"Not really poor, more lower middle class." I answered. "So basically, I was one of the richest of the poor people." She gave me a questioning look and I laughed, ruffling her hair gently. "Details. Something that I never want to have time for. For simplicities sake, I was poor."

"Hmm." was all that she said in response. There was another long silence, this one turning a little awkward. "What do you think of rich people?" she asked.

"You sure have a lot of questions today Milady." I said, poking her on the nose.

She stuck her tongue out at me. "We have nothing else to do on this hike, so we may as well get to know each other better." She said. "And what's with the 'Milady'?"

I laughed a little again. "You just remind me of someone who I used to call that as a joke. She was... I guess you could say that she was my first love." I said, gazing into the distance wistfully. Freya hugged me and stayed latched to me for a moment or two, and then released me.

"I'm sorry." she said, looking a little downcast.

"Don't be." I said. "She had died long before this hell. She died of illness."

"I'm sorry." she repeated. I ruffled her hair again.

"No worries. I got over it a while ago." She moved in and hugged me again.

"I see." she said. I felt a quick jab in my side and looked down. She had poked me. "So you still need to answer me." I stared at her blankly for a moment. "You know, 'What do you think of rich people?'" she repeated. I laughed again.

"Of course." I said. "Rich people. They fall into two categories for me. Snobby ones, and nice ones. The nice ones I like, and they don't flaunt their money around feeling superior to everyone else. Snobby ones do exactly that. I'd like to see money protect you from my fist to your face... err, sorry." I said. I had gotten off on a tangent there.

"What was that last part about?" she asked.

"Well, there was this one time..." I said, telling her of a story when I beat up this rich brat for looking down on me. His bodyguards eventually took me down, and I got beaten up myself, but it was worth it. I told her story after story until we reached our stopping point for lunch. We ate quickly and set out on the move again. Eventually the barren desert of Plegia turned into a savanna area with sparse plants growing around, and then into the plains of Ylisse.

"Hang on." I said, halting the group. "I see something over there." I climbed up a small hill to get a better view, and saw smoke rising from what looked like a small encampment about twenty miles north. I climbed down and relayed the news to everyone else.

"So, shall we try to stay there for the night and leave in the morning?" I asked. "If it's inhabited, we may be able to get some supplies from them as well."

"I object." George said. "We should skirt around them and move onwards."

"I think we should go for it." Freya argued. "The sun is sinking, and we haven't found any other suitable place to spend the night. Why not try it?"

"I'm still against it..." George said.

"How about this?" I interjected. "Freya, Rim and I go to them, see if we can stay the night. We pull the 'we have injured, women and children' card, and hope it works. If it does, then the rest come with us. If not, you'll be waiting close by so we can just go and be on our way." I said, proposing my plan. George still looked a bit skeptical, but eventually there was a unanimous (minus Tiamat, who didn't say anything and looked just as listless as ever) agreement.

Our group started the trek to the encampment. We moved quickly and quietly, crossing the open plain as fast as possible in our current condition. As the sun sank, we reached an area about a mile out and the group split – Rim, Freya and I running on ahead and George, Rea, Tiamat and Daak staying behind.

We reached the camp just as the sun sunk below the horizon.

"Halt!" a guard said, walking over to us. "Who goes there?"

"My name is Kayl. This is Rim and Freya. We've come from the southern area of Plegia, and we're travelling to Regna Ferox. We'd like to stay the night if you'd let us." I said, summarizing our plans. My heart was pounding in my chest. This is the moment deciding our possible fate. Thankfully, our chances looked good as he considered our plea for a moment.

"I need to talk with the leader here." he said, calling another guard over to watch over us. A few minutes passed, and the guard came back with a strong looking man in his forties.

"These are the people asking for refuge?" he asked.

"Yes sir." the guard replied.

"Why do you want to stay?" the leader asked, turning towards us.

"Who wouldn't want a place to stay at night?" I replied, answering him with a question of my own.

He let out a short laugh. "You didn't say "safe" place to stay."

"Well, there's no truly safe place anymore." I said matter-of-factly. The leader stared at me, his gaze unwavering. I held his stare calmly. Let us stay dammit!

"You have others with you, correct?" He asked. I'm not sure how he guessed, but I decided that it wasn't too important. Probably a mistake at the moment, but whatever.

"Yes. We have three more about a mile out." I answered.

"Get them and bring them here. You may stay the night, but leave in the morning. Is that clear?"

A smile of relief broke out on my face. "Thank you! We'll be right back."

"Good." he turned, whispering something to the guard. I managed to get a few words, but nothing more. "Prepare... room..."

I motioned for Freya and Rim to follow me, and we jogged back to the hiding place. We told the story to the two who were listening, Tiamat vaguely made some noise that she had understood. I carried Tiamat in my arms, as probably no one else (other than George, but he was carrying Rea) would be able to carry her. It would probably be easier to carry her piggy back style, but this way made sure that she was still able to, and had the will to, move and keep herself from falling. She had wrapped her arms around my neck to do just that, which I thought was a good thing. I saw Freya give me a slightly annoyed look, but it vanished quickly. As we returned to the camp, we were greeted by the leader and three others, most likely his assistants. They were kind looking, yet there was something slightly off about them: like they were overly happy to be here. The leader motioned for us to follow him to the center of the camp.

"First you may eat, then we'll send you off to your tent. I assume you have no problem with fitting all of you in the same one? We're a bit short on room you see." he said with a slight smile. "We will come and get you when it's time for breakfast. You may eat with us then, and then we will send you on your way."

"That sounds wonderful. Although it may be a bit of a tight fit with six of us.." I said in response, feeling relief. We get free food, and a place to stay! Of course I was suspicious of them, who wouldn't be? I was planning on waking everyone up before sunrise to leave early after stealing some supplies anyways, and keeping us all together would make that so much easier.

"No need to worry my boy." he said, patting me on the shoulder. "The tents easily fit four to five people, adding an extra won't be too much of a stretch. You'll have to use your own sleeping supplies though, I'm afraid that we can't supply that."

"That's alright. We have blankets and such." I moved away slightly. I didn't like the way that he sort-of grabbed my shoulder. It felt like he was going to molest me or something. I slightly revised my initial opinion of him, and continued to follow him. He took us to the center of camp, and I saw a fire large enough to keep everyone warm, but low enough so as not to attract many Risen. I heard a sweet melody coming from the center: a beautiful voice coming from, what I could tell in this half-light anyways, just as equally beautiful a woman. She had long, dark hair reaching down to her mid-back. Her face was plum shaped, her mouth small and, to be honest here, quite kissable. Her clothing revealed her shoulders and the tops of her thin arms, wrapping around her body in a dress like manner. The bottom part had a slit on the one side that showed one of her long, shapely legs. It was hard to tell in the dark, but I assume that her breasts are moderately sized as well, based off of... well, let's not get into that. Her most startling, and in my opinion attractive, feature were her eyes. One as blue as the night sky, the other as crimson as freshly spilled blood.

"Wow." I said, stunned.

"Astonished? You're not alone. Our Minstrel has a way of doing that to everyone, even women." the leader said, patting me on the shoulder again. This time, he took his hand off quickly. I looked around for the girls in my group and all of them, even Tiamat, were gazing at her with an awed expression on their faced. Her song ended and amidst the applause she ran over to greet us. Upon closer inspection, she seemed to be no older than twenty.

"Did you like it?" she asked, more directed at the leader than us.

"It was amazing as usual." he replied with a cheerful voice, patting her on her head. She smiled broadly and giggled.

"Thank you!" she turned to face us, her smile still wide on her face. "Did you all enjoy it?"

"Greatly." I said. There were murmurs of approval from behind me. She bowed deeply, her hair brushing the dusty earth. "Thank you for listening!" she gave me a sly smile. "Although I'm not sure that you should be ogling me that openly~ Your girlfriend may get jealous!" she gestured to Tiamat as she said this. What little of a smile I had faded instantly, my face turning grave.

"She's not my girlfriend. I'd rather you didn't talk about that to be honest. We just lost someone, and well... she took it the worst." I said. Her face lost it's smile, and she looked very guilty.

"I'm so sorry." she said. "I didn't know..."

"It's fine." a voice spoke softly from below my head. "I need to get over it regardless. May as well make it sooner rather than later." Surprisingly, Tiamat had spoken for the first time since Yuri's death. Instead of responding with words, the Minstrel (for the sake of not knowing her name, I'll just refer to her as Minstrel) bent over her and kissed her square on the mouth. Tiamat's expression changed from one of surprise, to one of timidness, to one of suffocation as the kiss lengthened for reasons unknown. Eventually, she pushed off Minstrel and stood up on her own. I swear that I saw a thin string of saliva as they broke apart.

"What the hell, woman?! What was that for?!" she said, taking in deep breaths to refill her lungs. Minstrel shrank back.

"I'm sorry. I was just trying to cheer you up..." she said, her voice getting small. I thought I saw tears forming in her eyes as she said this. Tiamat must have too, and went to hug the smaller girl. Seeing them side by side was... interesting. Where Tiamat was tall and broad shouldered, Minstrel was short with a thin body.

"I'm sorry for making you cry." Tiamat said. "Now calm down. There there..." Minstrel had started crying into Tiamat's chest apparently. After she calmed down, the leader led us over to our tent. He was right, it'd easily fit all of us. We climbed inside and said that we'd sleep early due to not sleeping much recently and needing to catch up.

"Well, I'm gonna hit the hay." George said, wrapping up in a blanket and rolling over. He was snoring in seconds. Rim, Rea and Tiamat swiftly followed suit, Rim hugging Rea, and Tiamat hugging Rea as well. It was like a cute sandwich of sleeping women. Freya and I stayed up a while longer, talking about miscellaneous topics. Eventually, she fell asleep and I slipped out of the tent. I couldn't sleep, plus I needed to get our supplies ready. As we walked through the camp, I took note of the food storage tent, and the stables. I figured that we could pack as much food as possible and leave on some horses. Silently, I snuck around the camp and into the food tent. There was a bunch of recently grown crops in a pile, some salted meat for preservation and travel in another, and sacks of water in a third. I took out the large bag I had brought with me and filled it to the brim with meat and vegetables, and grabbing about twelve large water sacks. It was a lot to carry, so I made multiple trips to and from the stables, depositing it in saddlebags. On my last trip back to the food house, I overheard the leader talking with someone.

"Did you prepare the room?" he asked in a hushed voice.

"Yes sir. We're ready to drain them as soon as you give the word."

"Good. We'll sneak into their tent and drug them. Then, they die slowly."

* * *

My god, I'm sorry about the wait. Due to various reasons in life, I got reeeeeeeaaaaaaallllllly lazy in writing this. One of them was probably my other fanfic about SMT IV (which I still need to write chapter 3 of _ ), school work, work, hanging out with friends, video games... mostly the last part. I'm kinda sad about Atlus being bought out by SEGA (if any of you care about that, I'm not sure) but at least they're still in business. What that has to do with anything, I have no idea. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! To be honest, I was originally going to add a fight scene to this, but I figured that you guys (the few of you who read this) have waited long enough. Regardless, I hope that you all have a nice day (or night. or mid-morning. or whatever state of day you may be in,) and thank you for reading!

-Carmine


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